Meat

Annual Incomes
Unlike for horticulture, as yet there aren’t any sources of data to indicate the range of current net annual incomes from animal and meat sales at businesses employing regenerative or ecological practices. There are, however, publications looking at the differences in yields and costs at farms employing regenerative and ecological farming practices compared with margins achieved in conventional farming systems, and these are included in the sections below.

Start-Up Costs
The LWA interviewed two meat producers, one on a 22-acre mixed holding and the other on a 300-acre livestock holding. Their start-up costs are set out in detail in the publication New Entrant Example Start-Up Costs (2019):   https://landworkersalliance.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/New-entrants-costs-website.pdf The ELC (2011) interviewed a farmer with a small-scale duck hatchery,    and details captured include start-up costs:     ecologicalland.coop/sites/ecologicalland.coop/files/Small_is_Successful_0.pdf Cobweb provides business factsheets for turkey and duck farmers, including typical prices for infrastructure and equipment. Cobweb factsheets can be accessed for free via Business Wales:        http://businesswales.startquest.net/ Although now in need of updating, CALU produced ‘technical notes’ for raising goat, turkey, venison, buffalo, alpacas, geese, and pigs for meat which provide a helpful introduction to each sector:    calu.bangor.ac.uk/technotes.php.en Latest prices for equipment and tools can be checked on suppliers’     websites. Table    4 lists     suppliers.

The Landworkers Alliance held a webinar in early 2022 on pastured poultry for meat and eggs. You can watch the webinar here.

Yields
The AMOS Report (2017) provides example yields per herd size from 26    small-scale and ecological livestock farmers based in the UK. Although the data does need some analysis to provide a benchmark. See Appendix 1, Table A1.1:    landworkersalliance.org.uk/matter-of-scale/ The Farm Management Handbook (2019/20) from the Scottish Rural College provides average weights for a range of livestock, including for animals reared on both organic and small-scale farms:    fas.scot/downloads/farm-management-handbook-2019-20/ Pasture for Life provide a comparison in income from beef and lamb achieved in conventional versus regenerative farming systems:    pastureforlife.org/media/2016/01/pfl-it-can-be-done-jan2016.pdf Meat Promotion Wales provides fact sheets on beef and lamb production and these include average weights:    meatpromotion.wales/en/industry-resources The AHDB provides guides to calculate the weight of prime cuts per    weight of animal for beef, lamb and pork: ahdb.org.uk/trade/tools

Sales Prices
If you are producing meat to a particularly high standard, you can plan to ask a price which reflects its quality. It’s therefore more appropriate to research prices set by other businesses selling a similar product, rather than looking at more general market prices. These include: Burnt Edge Farm: facebook.com/BurntEdgeFarm/ Butchery at Bowhouse: butcherybowhouse.com Smiling Tree Farm: smilingtreefarm.com Tamarisk Farm: tamariskfarm.co.uk

If you would like to also know the market prices, these can found as follows: The Soil Association produces monthly wholesale organic beef and lamb prices:    https://www.soilassociation.org/farmers-growers/market-information/price-data/livestock-price-data/ The AHDB provides wholesale prices for pork, lamb and beef (deadweight and liveweight): https://ahdb.org.uk/markets-and-prices Meat Promotion Wales provides daily prices from English and Welsh livestock markets: meatpromotion.wales/en/markets The AHDB provide costing calculators for the full range of beef and lamb    cuts, and these calculators include retail selling prices by cut (non-organic): https://ahdb.org.uk/trade/tools Cobweb provides business fact sheets for duck and turkey farmers which include average retail prices. Cobweb factsheets can be accessed for free via Business Wales: http://businesswales.startquest.net/

Production Costs
The Farm Management Handbook (2019) contains data for direct costs for most types of livestock, including for organic and small-scale farms: fas.scot/downloads/farm-management-handbook-2019-20/. The ORC provide a technical leaflet ‘Financial Performance,    Benchmarking and Management of Livestock and Mixed Organic Farming’ (2019) which contains average direct costs (now slightly dated), as     well as data for yields and overheads:     organicresearchcentre.com/manage/authincludes/article_uploads/iota/technical-leaflets/financial-performance-benchmarking-and-management-of-livestock-and-mixed-organic-farming.pdf The AHDB provide prices for hay and straw, updated monthly:    https://ahdb.org.uk/dairy/hay-and-straw-prices Cobweb’s factsheets for turkey and duck farmers include typical prices for    live poults and fertilised eggs:     http://businesswales.startquest.net/ Quality Meat Scotland produces an annual report Cattle and Sheep Enterprise Profitability, which includes typical direct costs, including feed and vet bills. The data does come from farms with herds larger than typical to small farms: qmscotland.co.uk/sites/default/files/qms_cattle_sheep_enterprise_2018_0.pdf Pasture for Life provides a comparison in costs for beef and lamb reared in conventional versus regenerative farming systems:    pastureforlife.org/media/2016/01/pfl-it-can-be-done-jan2016.pdf We couldn’t find a source of typical market prices for butchery, packing and meat processing costs (e.g. for sausages). These costs could be researched either by asking your nearest abattoir, or joining one of the forums.

Modelling Tools
The AHDB provides a free tool for modelling meat box schemes (cuts,    costs, and margins): ahdb.org.uk/box-schemes The Accidental Smallholder provides a free calculator to calculate the    cost of rearing weaners on a small-scale. The spreadsheet is free to    download but you’ll first need to create an account (also free):     accidentalsmallholder.net/livestock/pigs/pig-calculator/